UKRAINE RIVALS TO SWAP PRISONERS TODAY

KIEV: Ukrainian authorities and pro-russian separatists in the wartorn east of the country are expected to swap dozens of prisoners in a frontline operation on Sunday.

Both sides had said earlier this month they would carry out a prisoner exchange by the end of the year, following high-profile peace talks in Paris aimed at de-escalating Europe’s only active war.

“There should be an exchange tomorrow. We are waiting for this. The verification of all people is not yet complete,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists in comments quoted by his press service.

Earlier, a spokeswoman for the selfdeclared rebel republic of Donetsk, Daria Morozova, announced that there was an agreement for the swap.

She said two separatist territories

Donetsk and Lugansk will get 87 prisoners, while 55 others will be handed over to Kiev, without giving details on the identity of those involved.

The prisoner exchange is expected to take place near the town of Gorlivka in the separatist-held Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine’s industrial heartland.

Russian media reported that the operation will take place on the front line.

The swap would come three months after Ukraine carried out a long-awaited exchange with Russia of 35 prisoners each.

More than 13,000 people have been killed since pro-russia militias in eastern Ukraine launched a bid for independence in 2014 — kicking off a conflict that deepened Russia’s estrangement from the West. — AFP